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VARIOUS / 14 TRACKS - Techno: in perpetual motion

2010-03-09T01:00:00+00:00

VARIOUS / 14 TRACKS
Techno: in perpetual motion
Boomkat / 14 Tracks
14 tracks compilations
MP3 Bundle

The rate of expansion and mutation in Techno today may not be as virulent as it was 20 years ago, but things happen more incrementally nowadays, with producers constantly refining and reducing the formula to a sleek and well-oiled rhythmic machine designed to provide a gymnastic and mental release for thousands of dancers everywhere, every weekend. Tracks from Sigha, Frozen Border and Function-Regis signify the assimilation of garage and house swing, while the talented Horizontal Ground encourages fresh electro-acoustic experimentation and Van Rivers and Delta Funktionen uphold the essence of purified, synthline-driven traditions. Techno is forever in flux, and this is just a snapshot of where it is at this particular place, in this particular moment in time...

MARCEL DETTMANN - Dettmann Remixed

2010-03-08T05:00:00+00:00

MARCEL DETTMANN
Dettmann Remixed
OSTGUT
TECHNO / HOUSE
MP3 Release

Preceding his self titled debut album, Marcel Dettmann offers four tracks to Norman Nodge and Wincent Kunth for killer remix treatments. Nodge tackles 'Unrest' and 'Shift' with typical reserve and tact, giving a cold party groove on 'Shift' with ghostly crowd sounds fading into dusty dry surface textures while stoic kickdrums pound away and shredded hi-hats firmly insist that you don't stray from the groove. His mix of 'Unrest' is a far meaner beast, revolving around industrial-strength metallic square bassline and flying 909 hi-hats to programme your muscles for the rigours of relentless exercise. However, the biggest thrill comes from the two Wincent Kunth cuts. Just like everyone else we'd imagine, we were surprised that Ostgut had picked a total unknown for such a big project but it pays off in dividends with two stellar deep techno movers. 'Vertigo' is driven by lushly hypnotic bass sequences and etched with alleviated Detroit synthlines while 'Wound Up' strongly reminds of Shed's dubbier EQ'd jackers but with an athletic muscularity of it's own. Four flawless winners, we cant ask for much more!

FENN O'BERG (FENNESZ, O'ROURKE, REHBERG) - In Stereo

2010-03-08T05:00:00+00:00

FENN O'BERG (FENNESZ, O'ROURKE, REHBERG)
In Stereo
Editions Mego
ELECTRONIC
MP3 Release

For any electronic music enthusiast, this has to be one of the year's most feverishly anticipated new releases. Reconvening for the first time on record since 2002's The Return Of Fenn O'Berg, Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke and Peter Rehberg return as one of the avant-garde's foremost supergroups; a Travelling Wilburys of extreme computer music, if you will. Though perhaps you won't. Forgive the giddiness, readers, but a new Fenn O'Berg album is enough to discombobulate the best of us. In Stereo has the distinction of being the trio's first entirely studio-bound enterprise (the group's first two albums were constituted from live edits), recorded and composed over the course of a week spent at Studio GOK Sound in Tokyo. Perhaps in part because of their more formal surroundings, the three artists incorporated an array of instruments that transcended the laptop-generated sample-munching chaos of their earlier work, and In Stereo has the feel of a more serious undertaking because of that. Don't be too alarmed by that statement, however; despite the absence of mauled John Barry themes and slapstick glitch pyrotechnics this time around, In Stereo has the feel of a more in-depth interrogation of electronic sound, divided into six discreet tracks, each with its own elusive, perilously unnavigable internal logic when it comes to structuring. There's a great deal of information to be devoured at any given moment, and each piece exhibits considerable density and rate of change - seemingly every molecule of 'Part VII' is continually collapsing and rebuilding itself - but compositionally, In Stereo is heavy-going. Seductively so, at that. The album draws much of its character from its oblique slipperiness and restless state of flux; it's actually incredibly difficult to latch your ear to any given one of these tracks, and even after a few listens they retain an unyielding resilience to easy consumption. At no point during 'Part I', for example, do you imagine the track is about to erupt into a flurry of crisply engineered, processed drumming and piano treatments, and yet from out of nowhere it does just that before abruptly coming to a halt at the command of some surging glitches. Fusing the timeless idiom of analogue signal generation with the more unstable language of cutting edge digital synthesis is key to the trio's work here, and rarely do you hear so happy a marriage of old and new technologies as on 'Part VI', which finds classic, bloopy synth articulations simmering alongside streams of rapacious granular techniques in perfect disharmony. Living up to the weight of expectations, In Stereo is ferociously experimental and wonderfully addictive, exhibiting a creative kinship with composers from Francois Bayle to Curtis Roads, right through to the trio's peers like Keith Fullerton Whitman and labelmate Florian Hecker. A necessary acquisition, we're sure you'll agree.

VARIOUS / FINDERS KEEPERS - Pomegranates: Persian Pop, Funk and Psych of the 60's and 70's

2010-03-08T04:23:00+00:00

VARIOUS / FINDERS KEEPERS
Pomegranates: Persian Pop, Funk and Psych of the 60's and 70's
FINDERS KEEPERS
WORLD
MP3 Release

GOLDEN RETRIEVER - Golden Retriever

2010-03-08T04:00:00+00:00

GOLDEN RETRIEVER
Golden Retriever
Root Strata
ELECTRONIC
MP3 Release

Another Root Strata edition that's destined to vanish almost immediately, this imperious analogue synth album from Portland's Golden Retriever has been released in a run of just 100 copies, so do act fast to secure yourself one. This duo consists of synthesizer wrangler Matt Carlson and bass clarinetist Jonathan Sielaff, whose intelligent and subtly melodious drones are bound to win favourable comparisons to like-minded contemporaries Emeralds and Oneohtrix Point Never. Over these five pieces the meeting point between clarinet and synthesizer is incredibly fluid, and often the timbral fingerprints of the two instruments become inseparable. All this lends itself to a symbiotic relationship between organic, natural sound and warm, supple electronics: a track like 'Moments Receding' intertwines strands of freeform tonality from each instrument across the widest of stereo expanses, and during the awesome opener 'False Entry', you hear the woodwind components stealthily weaving their way between solid pillars of analogue drone and rich, padded bass. It's a real pleasure to just bask in the electric glow of these tracks - and don't be fooled by the hand-packaged CD-R formatting of the release either: not only is Golden Retriever's eponymous debut a freakishly musical synthesizer record, it's also exceedingly well-produced, with every crisp modulation captured in glorious hi-fi with the utmost clarity. Grab one while you still can...

SYLVAIN CHAUVEAU - Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)

2010-03-08T04:00:00+00:00

SYLVAIN CHAUVEAU
Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)
Type
ELECTRONIC
MP3 Release

Improbable as it may seem, 'Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)' is Sylvain Chauveau's first album of new material in five years, and if you've ever found yourself marvelling at the music of David Sylvian, or indeed the solo work of Martin Gore - this album will blow your mind, referencing both artists combined with a stripped Piano/Electronic arrangement reminiscent of Alva Noto's work with Ryuichi Sakamoto. Since 2005's 'Down To The Bone' was released we do seem to have been drip-fed a steady supply of Sylvain's work thanks to Type's reissue policy, culminating last year with the reappearance last year of his 'On' collaboration with Steven Hess and Deathprod, 'Your Naked Ghost Comes Back At Night'. Given what we've heard from Chauveau in the interim, it might be easy to forget that the aforementioned 'Down To The Bone' album was in fact all about songs - specifically the songs of Depeche Mode. On 'Singular Forms', Chauveau presents a collection of his own songwriting, one that's presented stripped of orchestration and the trappings of his contemporary-classical compositions. What's left is piano, some strictly minimal electronics and a free-roaming central vocal. While we're on the subject of vocals, there's really no getting around the David Sylvian comparisons that Chauveau is bound to attract with his fragmented, stately annunciations. But for the occasional reminder of his French accent, Chauveau's delivery is remarkably similar to that of the ex-Japan frontman, and his appetite for abstract, avant-garde re-imaginings of songwriting represents another trait the two artists have in common. A counterpoint between the fractured melodies of those rich, intimately intoned vocals and the aloof soundscape that lies beneath them is what makes this album so special: the delicate web of micro-electronics, high frequency glitches and bare piano keyings work in a similar manner to Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto's beloved collaborations and when vocals are added to this canvas the likes of 'A Cloud Of Dust' and 'Slowburner (With Stillness)' acquire a remarkable emotional pull. Even during his most esoteric moments, such as the floating, whirring oddness of 'The Unbroken Line', Chauveau elicits outstanding moments of beauty from his tapestry of sine waves, interference and interruptions. Also worthy of note is the album's structure and sequencing: clocking in at just over half an hour with seven individual pieces, Singular Forms takes care not to overstate its ideas, instead condensing itself into a perfectly formed capsule of experimental song craft that keeps revealing new layers with every listen.

FLYING LOTUS / MUHSINAH / 00GENESIS - Always

2010-03-08T04:00:00+00:00

FLYING LOTUS / MUHSINAH / 00GENESIS
Always
All City
BEATS / DOWNTEMPO / WONKY
MP3 Release

All City deliver a steaming hot plate displaying the vocal excellence of Muhsinah atop beats from 00Genesis and the mighty Flying Lotus. If you do the whole beats thing you're no doubt familiar with the warm soul breeze of her vocal cords. They've graced tunes for everyone from Mike Slott to Common and many more still. With 'Always (Smile)' she sends out a message of positivity set to reconfigured bossa grooves in stumbling nu-skool style before really killing it on 'Lose My Fuse'. Fly lo beautifully highlights her vocals with a bluesy astrosoul beat which eventually dissipates only to come back in with a naked rimshot rhythm and heavenly harmonised vocals. It's worth it for this moment alone.

PACOU - Selections Volume 1

2010-03-08T04:00:00+00:00

PACOU
Selections Volume 1
CACHE
BASIC CHANNEL / DUB TECHNO
MP3 Release

PACOU - Agent Cooper Legacies

2010-03-08T04:00:00+00:00

PACOU
Agent Cooper Legacies
CACHE
BASIC CHANNEL / DUB TECHNO
MP3 Release

The second of three Pacou collections released this week, 'Agent Cooper Legacies' collects twelve tracks originally released under his Agent Cooper alias for labels like Minifunk and the Sender offshoot, unGleich. The five 'Minifunk' tracks originally came out in 2000, covering variations on a crafty shakers techno sound with classic samples and a proper Rob Hood-style sense of the funk. His LL tracks from 1999 roll with a more deadly charge, comparable to the Birmingham sound of Surgeon/Regis/Female through to proper Berlin techniques while the two track for unGleich cover energetic polyrhythms and Millsian bangers.

PACOU - Acid Tracks

2010-03-08T04:00:00+00:00

PACOU
Acid Tracks
CACHE
BASIC CHANNEL / DUB TECHNO
MP3 Release

Berlin's Pacou gathers his rugged acid experiments for Djax-Up-Beats on one album for Cache. 'Acid Tracks' collects 16 tracky grooves of purest 303, 909 and 808 abuse fashioned with Tresor's basement in mind. The Binary Code' set features an assortment of distorted pounders, while the 'Radar' series covers nautical acid experimentation, 'Gravity' 1-4 jacks on a dryly insistent Chicago style and 'Replicant' fluctuates between distorted and wonky bouncing acid. Pacou more than proves his worth as a minimalist aesthete in the style of Robert Hood but with the kicking weight of Robert Armani, hewing heavyweight DJ groove tools from the barest of ingredients.